Never-say-die Chiefs tough test for Royals
GAME DAY: SPOKANE AT VICTORIA 7 p.m. at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre TV: None / Radio: The Zone 91.3 FM
All good things, including streaks, must come to an end. It appears the jig is up on the Spokane Chiefs’ run of 10 consecutive Western Hockey League playoff appearances. It comes in a sports season in which Gonzaga University has pretty much taken up all the marketing oxygen in Spokane by being ranked No. 1 in NCAA basketball until a recent loss dropped the Zags to No. 4.
The thing is, however, the Chiefs are only one game under .500 and considered a bright young team for the future. And they don’t necessarily believe they are done quite yet on this season, as attested by their 4-1 upset victory Wednesday over the Western Conferenceleading Silvertips in Everett.
Where there is life still beating, there is hope. And Royals coach Dave Lowry certainly knows young athletes.
“They believe they have a chance,” he said, of the Chiefs.
Victoria has nine games remaining and Spokane 10 heading into the two-game set tonight and Saturday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. The West seventh-seed Royals’ magic number is four. Any combination of wins by the Royals or losses by the ninth-place Chiefs adding to four will assure Victoria its sixth consecutive playoff berth and the Royals/Chilliwack Bruins franchise its eighth straight. So, a Royals twogame sweep of Spokane (26-27-9) will do it and guarantee Victoria the playoffs. They now don’t even have to be regulation-time wins. The Royals (35-23-5) are 14 points ahead of Spokane.
A Victoria sweep wouldn’t necessarily eliminate the Chiefs, who can still target eighth-place Portland, but their hopes are dangling by gossamer as they trail the Winterhawks by nine points.
Four of the eight Western Conference playoff berths have been claimed. Prince George, Kamloops, Everett and Seattle having clinched.
“That’s why you play the regular season: To earn the right to play in the next season [playoffs],” said Lowry.
The Royals and Chiefs, meanwhile, have a history in that second season. Victoria has twice eliminated Spokane in the first round of the playoffs, including last year.
“They don’t like us and we don’t like them,” said Victoria defenceman Scott Walford.
But it’s a rivalry built on mutual respect. Last year, the eighth-seed Chiefs gave the WHL regular-season champion Royals all they could handle in their six-game, opening-round series.
“They didn’t go away,” said Walford. “Now they’ve got some good, young players.”
Chief among the Chiefs is Kailer Yamamoto, top 10 in WHL scoring with 36 goals and 81 points. The Spokane native picked up points on all four goals Wednesday in the victory over Everett to again show why he is projected for the first round of the 2017 NHL draft. Dangerous, too, is his 20-year-old brother, Keanu Yamamoto, who also scored Wednesday in Everett and has 61 points.
“We have to play the body on them and wear them down,” said Victoria forward Regan Nagy.
Victoria has won four consecutive games but all against teams eliminated from the playoffs — Vancouver Giants and Kootenay Ice.
The Royals will again be without three injured players. Anaheim Ducks draft pick Tyler Soy is listed week to week and skated Thursday after main practice in a track suit. Forward Ryan Peckford, ranked the 87th North American skater for the 2017 NHL draft, and Los Angeles Kings prospect, defenceman Chaz Reddekopp, are both listed out three-to-five more weeks.